Whole30

I haven't been taking photos of the food we cook. I do take lots and lots of photos when we go out to eat, but that's a different story.

I am in the middle of a Whole30 round. It has been an...interesting and enlighting... 10 days so far. The biggest challenge has been cooking a dinner we all can/will eat.

Biggest hits have been:

• Nutpods. I resisted buying them, but I found it harder to give up half and half in my coffee than it was giving up sugar; who saw that coming? After trying my coffee black for something like 2 weeks, I'm glad I caved and now I'm on the hunt for the best price on these little cartons of joy.
• Whole30 BBQ Sauce from Jay's Baking Me Crazy. When I made this, I was confident my family would not like it, but they all gave a big thumbs up to the recipe I made that used this (next bullet).
• Hawaiian Chicken Meal Prep Bowls. I didn't expect them to like this, but we all did. Husband was upset I took the remaining chicken as my lunch.
• Sloppy Joe Bowls We tried this before I was even on a Whole30, and my husband requests it for dinner throughout the year.
• Coconut Shrimp Taco Bowls This was a huge hit for the whole family. I took leftovers for lunch, and even the shrimp was good straight from the fridge. Major keeper!

I've enjoyed:

• Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl has been a great and easy breakfast, so long as I remember to cook the sweet potato the night before.
• Burrito Bowl Stuffed Peppers
• Egg Roll in a Bowl
• 30 Minute No Bean Chili
• Roasted Breakfast Potatoes and Veggies This has been a great make ahead breakfast item. It tastes great, and keeps me satisfied, along with scrambled eggs or a hard boiled egg or two, until lunch time.
• Cottage Pie This was delicious (without peas, of course), and most of my family enjoyed it. It made me several days' worth of leftovers, but it was definitely time consuming to make.

BLT Roll Ups

This one was made by my husband, and it was a lovely and delicious lunch.  It also seems like an easy one to put together (after you cook the bacon, of course... definitely do it in the oven if you've never tried it that way!)

Instead of mayo like a typical BLT, the recipe uses a homemade honey mustard, which was an AMAZING choice.  I don't know if I'll ever have mayo on a BLT again!  I also like the choice of it as a wrap instead of white bread.

BLT Wraps by Paula Deen

Ingredients

2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
8 slices bacon, cooked crisp
8 green leaf lettuce leaves
8 slices tomato
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Make the sauce by combining the honey, mustard, and mayonnaise in a small bowl. Spread evenly on the tortillas.  Evenly divide bacon, lettuce leaves, and tomato over each. Drizzle each with olive oil then season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roll up and secure with a toothpick. Cut in half on the bias.

Enjoy!

Ladybug pasta

My son is off to Kindergarten this year, and my other son is going to a new daycare.  For the first time, we have to think about packing lunches for them as well as for ourselves, so this summer, we have been trying out new ideas for lunches.  This one came up in my Facebook feed today just as I was getting ready to go to the store desperate for something other than a sandwich for lunch.  When I told my five year old about the idea, he was excited about having it, even saying he'd rather have ladybugs than peanut butter and jelly!!!

I modified the recipe ever so slightly.  The only mini bowties I could find were the Barilla Piccolini, which have tomatoes and carrots pureed into the pasta; these were also the cheapest in the store.  I also didn't want to spend the money on another jar for my pantry, so I omitted the Coconut Spread (our store only had a Peanut Butter Coconut Spread) instead using a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.

I really enjoyed this one!  The best part was the tomatoes I'd plucked from our plant; they were so delicious and sweet.  My sons ate it after some cajoling; the five year old claimed he no longer likes pasta but really enjoyed the fruit I put into little cups on the plate (my first pseudo attempt at Bento lunch!).

Ladybug Pasta Inspired by Bentoriffic
1/2lb shape pasta (I used mini farfalle)
two handfuls grape tomatoes, cut in half
a can of black beans, drained and rinsed
a handful of sliced black olives
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
a few shakes of Italian seasoning
olive oil
red wine vinegar
Grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare pasta according to package directions.  Drain.  Meanwhile, add the rest of the ingredients to a large bowl.  When the pasta is finished cooking, drain, and add to the bowl.  Toss all ingredients together.  Refrigerate to cool down (I served it after about 5 minutes in the fridge.)  Serve and enjoy!

Greek Veggie Wraps

My oldest baby is going off to Kindergarten in the fall, so I plan to try out a bunch of lunchbox friendly recipes this summer for him as well as for his teacher parents.  It was Kismet that right around the same time my search began, Annie from Annie's Eats began a series of lunch recipes called "Let's Do Lunch," and this was one of the first featured recipes.

I made this exactly as written for myself, and removed the banana peppers for my husband and me.  The two of us REALLY enjoyed this and will be packing it in our lunchboxes, though we both love the idea of adding olives; we disagreed on whether those olives should be black or kalamata.  The boys weren't enthused, and neither really ate much.  The oldest liked picking out his tomatoes and carrots, but wouldn't touch anything else, and of course they both loved the pita chips and hummus I served on the side.

Greek Veggie Wraps Source:  Annie's Eats

Ingredients

For the dressing:
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

To assemble:
4 (10-inch) wraps or tortillas
Hummus
Cooked whole wheat couscous
Baby spinach leaves
Diced fresh tomatoes (or halved grape tomatoes)
Julienned or shredded carrots
Chopped banana peppers
Sliced Black olives
Crumbled feta cheese

Directions

• Make the dressing by whisking together the oil and vinegar.
• Build your wrap:  place tortilla on a flat surface and spread a thin layer of hummus around.  Spread a thin layer of couscous around on top of the hummus.  Top this with a handful of spinach, some tomatoes, and some carrots.
• For the next layer, add a handful of banana peppers, a handful of olives, and a sprinkling of feta.  Drizzle with dressing (store the remaining dressing in an airtight container).
• Roll your wrap like a burrito and slice in half.  Store in an airtight container and serve within 6 hours. 

"Best Ever" Shrimp Salad

I've been participating in an online recipe swap; each participant submits a recipe and in exchange, gets another to make and share her thoughts on.  I got this recipe, and with Lent coming soon, I was very happy to have a fish dish to add to the repertoire.  I was particularly happy to exchange recipes for lunch; typically, lunch around here is a sandwich, almost always turkey or ham with American cheese or maybe I'll shake things up with some leftovers.

I had some problems with this one.  See, I typically only use yellow mustard on my sandwiches.  So, I don't keep up with the status of the Dijon mustard.  As such, I didn't have enough for the recipe.  I then turned to spicy brown, thinking this would be a good substitute.  Alas, I also don't keep up on the status of our spicy brown.  So, now I have about 4.5T of Dijon, about .5T of spicy brown, and then turned to the yellow.  Perhaps as a result of all this, the recipe was much too mustardy.

I also used apple cider vinegar instead of white distilled plus sugar.

Other than the slight over mustard-i-zation, this was a pretty good (though very messy) lunch.  From the moment I first saw the recipe, I thought it would be awesome with some chopped pineapple; I will definitely make that addition the next time I make this.

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• 3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar  (I used apple cider vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons sugar (I omitted)
• 6 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 kirby cucumbers, peeled and diced (I used half a regular cucumber)
• 1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
• 1 pound cooked medium shrimp, cut into small bites
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• Salt

Directions

1. Mix vinegar and sugar until sugar dissolves.
2. Add mustard and mayonnaise to the vinegar and whisk until smooth.
3. Combine cucumbers, mango, shrimp, and dill in large bowl. Pour dressing over and toss to coat.
4. Season with salt.
5. Chill in fridge for about an hour before serving.

Pizza Bagels

Before my husband and I started living together, I'd never had an English muffin pizza.  He, however had them often as a kid, and so this was something we had for dinners pretty frequently in those early days.  In a lot of ways, this reminded me of those.

A few weeks ago, Kelly at Running Mama Cooks posted a Weight Watchers style of chicken pizza using Pepperidge Farms' Bagel Flats.  Inspired, I went to the store to buy them; one store had only everything Bagel Flats and Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Flats.  I didn't think either of those would work.  I remembered I wanted to try them when I went to a different store; they only had plain.  I guess these things are really popular!  So, I picked up the plain.

As I said, I was inspired by Kelly, but I also went for something easy for lunch.  Plain bagel, homemade marinara sauce, topped by shredded mozzarella.  It was so good, but I also thought it would be delicious with a burger inside.

Today, I stepped it up a tiny bit and topped it with diced red pepper.  Again, really tasty, but also sort of...plain bagel.  I really want to try this again using those everything bagel flats!

My husband has eaten about half the package of Bagel Flats just as regular bagels.  He commented that he's been having them 2 at a time, but this is a huge step for him, since he typically eats two bagel shop bagels.

Asian Chicken Wrap

From So Easy by Ellie Krieger, page 83

I had a hard time figuring out what would make this wrap "Asian," but the addition of sesame oil to the homemade dressing did exactly that. It was absolutely delicious, and so simple. Ellie means for this wrap to be a lunch meal, but we had it for dinner. I couldn't find Napa cabbage in the store (which is strange because I'm pretty sure it's in season right now), so I used romaine lettuce. In addition, I asked in the store where I could find wraps, and was directed to the Mexican aisle. So, I used burrito wraps that we already had.

These were delicious, and were awesome as leftovers too. Great to put in a lunch to take to work!

Ingredients:

Servings:
4 4

4

Servings Size

• 
  

• 3 tablespoons plain greek-style nonfat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I prefer Hellmans)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon thai-style chili sauce (I use Sriracha)**omitted**
• 12 nappa cabbage leaves, white center ribs removed**I used romaine**
• 4 whole wheat wraps (about 9 inch in diameter)
• 4 cooked chicken breast halves, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices (about 5 ounces each)
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 15 mins

1. 1 Make the sauce first, by combining the yogurt, mayo, brown sugar, soy sauce, mustard, sesame oil and chili sauce and stir until well blended.
2. 2 To make each wrap, place 2 cabbage leaves on 1 wrap, then layer with a quarter of the chicken and peppers.
3. 3 Drizzle with 2 T. of the sauce.
4. 4 Top with an additional cabbage leaf.
5. 5 Roll the wrap and serve or wrap in some foil to go!

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/asian-chicken-wrap-424351#ixzz1EEPyjc26

Vegetarian Chili

I originally got this recipe from Weight Watchers' Make it in Minutes cookbook. You can find the same recipe here. I love making this because not only is it tasty and easy, but it's a really different flavor than you would find in a typical chili recipe. I made it for lunch club, and no one could believe there was chocolate in there, but knowing that, I can definitely taste it.
So, this is a nice little lunch recipe or a nice something to have in the freezer for a night home alone. Keeper!! :)

Ingredients:

Serves: 4,
Yield:
6 6

6

Servings Size

• cups
  

cups

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 (15 1/2 ounce) cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsley ground black pepper
• 1 ounce semisweet chocolate
Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

1. 1 Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. 2 Add garlic, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper; cook, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften, 4-5 minutes.
3. 3 Add beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder, cocoa powder, oregano, salt, and black pepper.
4. 4 Bring to a boil and cook, stirring often to prevent scorching, until beginning to thicken slightly, about 15 minutes.
5. 5 Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until melted.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetarian-chili-61515#ixzz1EESh5MfP